Credit: SZALON logo by Mia Bosna
March 27th SZALON Program!
1. Dan Lippel will give the pre-premiere of two movements from Paul Brantley’s sonata for solo classical guitar, KITHARA from Dan’s apartment in East Harlem, NYC
2. Bassist/vocalist Maggie Hasspacher will perform excerpts of pieces written for her by Anna Mikhailova and Nathanael Gubler from her home in Vancouver, BC
3. Philip Ellis Foster presents “Demonstration”, a conducted improv video with members of the Open Dance Ensemble and Jonathan Saraga, trumpet from Philip’s studio in NYC
4. Pianist Dave Posmontier and bassist Chico Huff perform Dave’s original composition, Peace is the Way and a work by pianist Michel Camilo (Dominican Republic), Suntan from Andrea’s Salon in Philadelphia
5. DUO VERCIO (Rebecca Simon, flute and Samuel Lorber, saxophone) will play the Philadelphia premiere of The Secret Life of Diana Prince, written for them by Thomas Whitman from Andrea’s Salon in Phila.
6. Singer/songwriter/pianist Alexandra Day performs original songs from her records “Why Care” and “Untangle” from Andrea’s Salon in Phila.
7. Marion Halliday, singer-songwriter from Louisville, KY will share some of her latest creations from Andrea’s Salon in Phila.
8. Rich Rudin, piano will perform an original composition Making Peace inspired by, and dedicated to the memory of Manfred Fischbeck, with Katie Bank, dancer (video) from Andrea’s Salon in Phila.
9. Leah Sobsey, visual artist will present work that intertwines collections, archives, migrations and the natural world from Chapel Hill, NC
10. Dancer Nicole Diaz-Pellot will present a video of a new dance work Identity in collaboration with Jose Rodriguez from Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA
Daniel Lippel
Guitarist Daniel Lippel, called an “exciting soloist” (New York Times) and “magnificent” (Cleveland Classical) has a multi-faceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. Recent recital highlights include Le Poisson Rouge (NYC), Sinus Ton Festival (Germany), National University of Colombia in Bogota, the New York Classical and Triangle (NC) Guitar Societies, and the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival. As a chamber musician specializing in contemporary music, he has been a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble since 2005, Flexible Music since 2004, counter)induction since 2019, and played as a guest with several other ensembles and has performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Ojai Festival, Ottawa Chamber Festival, Aspekte Festival (Salzburg), and Kunst Universitaet Graz (Austria). He has worked closely with many composers including Mario Davidovsky, Nils Vigeland, Ken Ueno, Dai Fujikura, Tyshawn Sorey, Wang Lu, John Zorn, and Du Yun. He is the co-founder, owner, and director of New Focus Recordings, performing and producing on several of its albums, as well as appearing on recordings on several other labels including Kairos, Sony Classical Japan, Bridge, Tzadik, New World, and Wergo. Lippel has given presentations and masterclasses at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule (Berlin), Curtis Institute, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and San Francisco Conservatory, among several others. He completed his DMA at the Manhattan School of Music and his MM degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
https://danlippelguitar.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/Dan-Lippel-guitarist-264181576938963
twitter @danlippel
Instagram: @danlippel
https://newfocusrecordings.com
https://newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com
Paul Brantley
Composer and cellist, Paul Brantley, is a five-time MacDowell Colony Fellow who has also received fellowships from Banff Centre and The Anderson Center. He has given composition seminars at Yale School of Music, Hunter College and The University of Michigan School of Music. He has recently enjoyed performances of his music by The Knights, Horszowski Trio, Flux Quartet, Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, New Esterházy Quartet, and Memphis Symphony. Brantley recently composed a cello concerto, The Royal Revolver, for Eric Jacobsen premiered by the University of Michigan Symphony. The Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra will give 25th anniversary performances of his On the Pulse of Morning this May, with Abigail Fischer, soprano, Fall 2021. It was recently announced that Brantley is one of three winners of the ALIENOR COMPOSITION COMPETITION sponsored by the Historical Keyboard Association of North America. He co-founded the Seal Bay Festival and was artist faculty at Yellow Barn Music Festival. In addition to positions at Syracuse University and Washington and Lee University, Brantley was a Manhattan School of Music artist faculty from 2000 to 2014. His music is published by Oxford University Press and Bill Holab Music.
www.billholabmusic.com/composers/paul-brantley/
PayPal @ pbrantley@mac.com
Youtube
audio: SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/paul-brantley-music
Maggie Hasspacher
Maggie Hasspacher is a Detroit-native bassist, vocalist and songwriter now based in Vancouver, BC. This past fall she curated a concert for the newly-created Lucerne Festival Forward in Lucerne, Switzerland and in the summer performed with Patricia Kopachinskaja at the Bye Bye Beethoven concert of the Lucerne Festival. She spent a decade as a member of Grammy-nominated Los Angeles new music ensemble Wild Up and is now the newly-appointed principal bass of the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, faculty at the St James Music Academy and a songwriter released under the label of Purple Mollusk Music.
Subscribe to her Youtube Channel and follow her label Purple Mollusk Music on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PurpleMollusk
Videos:
Philip Ellis Foster
Philip Ellis Foster created the Open Dance Ensemble in 2017 to implement a new choreographic strategy: self-conducted improv, one in which the dancers conduct each other while dancing. They have employed this technique, as well as traditional, narrative approaches to dance, in structured improv performances in more than a dozen new works, from abstract works to themes ranging from the U.S. Bill of Rights to an homage to Pina Bausch.
“Follow” them at www.facebook.com/opendanceesnemble; @ opendanceensemble; checks to Philip Ellis Foster, 23 East 81st Street, New York City, New York
Videos:
Dave Posmontier and Chico Huff
Dave Posmontier has been playing piano since the age of 7 and professionally for the past 50 years. A pianist, organist, composer, arranger and teacher, he has performed and recorded with many jazz artists including Christian McBride, James Moody, Chris Potter, Grover Washington Jr. and Johnny Hartman. Dave has 2 recent CDs to his name as well as a vinyl LP of his original compositions recorded back in the day in 1984. In celebration of its 100th birthday in 2007, the renowned Settlement Music School honored 100 alumni who have made a difference in the world of music. Dave and his brother Rich were chosen to receive this honor.
Chico Huff has been playing electric bass professionally for about 40 years. He is primarily self-taught, learning from all the wonderful musicians he’s had the pleasure of making music with over the years. He did his first paying gig when he was about 14, playing standards on Martha’s Vineyard in a restaurant in Katana. What better way to learn fast than to play with older players who neither told him what tune or what key they were going to play, just counted it in and it all worked out! Over the years Chico has had the pleasure of performing and recording with the likes of James Taylor, Carly Simon, Jeff Golub, Solas, Terrance Blanchard, John Belushi, Dr. John and Jefferson Airplane. He’s had the chance to travel to USA and Europe extensively through the gift of music as well as Chico Huff-bass performing in Japan and Morocco.
More info on Dave can be found on his website, www.daveposmontier.com
Videos:
Duo Vercio
Duo Vercio, a flute/saxophone pairing based in the Philadelphia area, began performing together in 2006. The duo has presented multiple recitals in the Mid-Atlantic region, and has also appeared as joint soloists with the Wilkes University Civic Band. Seeking to expand the repertoire for this unusual instrumentation, they have commissioned new works from several young composers. Composer Lei Liang said of their rendition of his Lake, "Clearly the two of you have a wonderful synergy and a deep understanding of what I was looking for in the music. It's gorgeous! Thank you so much for this performance!!!"
Rebecca Simon, an active orchestral and chamber musician, was recently named principal flute of The New Jersey Chamber Orchestra. She is also a member of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, and has played with the Kennett Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Allentown Symphony, and National Orchestral Institute, among many others. She teaches flute and coaches chamber music at Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges. Her education includes a Master's Degree in Flute Performance from the Peabody Conservatory, as well as a B.A. in Flute Performance from the University of Maryland. Her major teachers include Mark Sparks, Kazuo Tokito (piccolo), Laurie Sokoloff (piccolo), and William Montgomery.
Samuel Lorber holds degrees from Swarthmore College and New England Conservatory; his principal studies in saxophone were with Kenneth Radnofsky and Charles Salinger. He has played the major orchestral saxophone solos with ensembles including the Delaware, Harrisburg, and Bay Atlantic Symphonies, leading critics to praise his performances as "beautifully played" (Broad Street Review), "outstanding," and "impeccably played" (Reading Eagle). Besides working with private students, he has taught at West Chester University, and also coaches chamber music for the University of Pennsylvania.
https://soundcloud.com/duovercio
Videos:
Alexandra Day
Alexandra Day studied classical piano at Messiah College, and classical voice at Temple University. She has had a diverse and vibrant performance career: She has sung with many jazz combos, done hundreds of gigs as a wedding singer, and in 2021, was cast as an onstage musician in a BalletX show. As a pianist-singer-songwriter, she has released 3 albums, and has toured from Boston to New Orleans, as well as in the Caribbean. She released the EP “Why Care” in May of 2020. An engaging and often-humorous performer, her best joke is to tell the truth. Her music is available on all streaming platforms.
Ways to support and stay connected:
Buy music and merch: Alexandraday.bandcamp.com
Donations: Venmo @AlexandraDay-MusicDispatch
Instagram: @AlexandraDayMusic
Facebook: www.facebook.com/alexandra.day.9887/
Videos:
Marion Halliday
Marion Halliday, a native Kentuckian now splitting her time between Louisville, Kentucky and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is proud purveyor of her own special blend of bluegrass and bourbon-infused, original, women-powered, Americana. While she has been a professional singer for many years, Marion only began focusing on songwriting in the last 5 years. She released her debut solo album Rings Around Saturn on July 1, 2019 and in its first month, both the album and Marion (as artist) were ranked #3 on the US/International Folk DJ charts. Marion also had two songs in the top ten folk releases in her launch month. Even though released late year, the album also landed in the official listing of top-50 most played albums on Folk radio for 2019 at #41. Marion has appeared solo or in one of her bands (Trickster Sister; The Weeping Pints) at venues and festivals throughout the US, as well as Scotland and Mexico.
Connect: Website | Youtube | Facebook
Videos:
Rich Rudin and Katie Bank
Pianist Rich Rudin received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Temple University. Rich has composed hundreds of works and has performed regularly throughout the Delaware Valley, playing in a wide variety of styles: classical, jazz, pop, folk, rock, etc. Karl Stark, in his Philadelphia Inquirer 3 1/2 star review, called Rich’s CD “Compositions” a “luminous recording”, “full of bravura moments”, showing “a masterly use of color”. He teaches piano, music theory & composition privately and is founder and director of the Maplewood Music Studio, which offers lessons for all ages on virtually all instruments and in all styles of music. The studio, in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, opened in 1980. A second studio, in Chestnut Hill, opened in 2006.
Maplewood Music Studio www.MaplewoodMusicStudio.com - and on Facebook!
Katie Bank, MA, BC-DMT, LPC is a dancer, board certified dance/movement therapist and a licensed professional counselor. She is a graduate from The University of the Arts and Drexel University where she received her BFA in Modern Dance, Dance Education, and MA in Creative Arts Therapies. With a background as a professional modern dancer, she’s performed mostly throughout the Philadelphia area and with Group Motion Multimedia Dance Company, where she currently serves on the Board of Directors. Over that last 10 years she’s devoted her work to dance/movement therapy and helping different communities heal through the expressive arts. Katie has worked with many different populations but her specialties lie in eating disorders, trauma, anxiety, depression, physical disabilities, and difficult life transitions. Katie has always been fascinated by the way the body speaks to us and using movement as a means of accessing our inner thoughts and feelings, helping us recover from life’s experiences and setting us free. She has been an active member in the Philadelphia dance community since 2007 and currently works in private practice serving Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania area with professional counseling and dance/movement therapy.
Venmo: @katie-bank
Leah Sobsey
Leah Sobsey is an artist, Associate Professor of Photography and Director of the Gatewood Gallery at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Sobsey is co-owner of LEA, transforming nature’s fragile specimens into cloth based wearable art and home goods that address issues of climate change. Sobsey’s photo-based work explores collections from those of her own family to Henry David Thoreau and Emily Dickinson, with an emphasis on the natural world through archives and taxonomies. She uses an experimental and materials-based approach to the medium of photography by working in 19th-century photographic processes combined with digital technology with a specialty in plant-based printing practices.
She exhibits internationally in galleries, public spaces, and museums; her forthcoming exhibition at The Harvard Museum of Natural History in May of 2022, documents species loss and plant decline through Henry David Thoreau’s herbarium collection. Her recent installations were exhibited at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, The Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California, The Nasher Museum of Art, The Moss Center at Virginia Tech, The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado, The Fence Durham, the world’s largest photography public art exhibition in the world, and Rayko Photo Gallery in San Francisco, California, which also featured her first monograph, Collections, released in July 2016 by Daylight Books. Her work is held in private and public collections across the country, including the North Carolina Museum of Art, Bill Gates-Microsoft, Fidelity Investments, Cassihaus, Duke Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Maine Media College, Rose Community Foundation Denver and many more. Her images have appeared in New Yorker.com, the Paris Review Daily, Slate.com, Hyperallergic.com, The Telegraph, and many more.
Instagram @leahsobsey
https://vpa.uncg.edu/home/directory/bio-leahsobsey/
Nicole Diaz-Pellot
Nicole Diaz-Pellot is a performance artist and choreographer, specializing in movement research through Contemporary Improv, Afro-Modern, and Yoga practices. Nicole originates from San Diego, California. At the age of four she began training at California Ballet as well as the San Diego Civic Dance Association where she became a six year member of the San Diego Civic Dance Company. Previously based out of Philadelphia, Nicole attended University of the Arts where she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance. She’s performed and trained under a variety of renowned choreographers, including the late Manfred Fischbeck who introduced her to the Group Motion Dance Company. For five years she conducted movement research through group and solo performances, including Group Motion’s 50th Year Anniversary. Nicole has been part of the Katherine Dunham Technique Certification program, An African American dance form engaging the mind, body, and spirit through modern, ballet, and traditional dances of the African Diaspora. Teaching for the last 11 years, Nicoles’s classes correlate self-awareness and the healing aspects of dance. Fusing her Contemporary Improv, Afro-modern, and Yoga practices, Nicole’s dance and teaching values are based around the holistic elements of movement.
CashApp or Venmo @ArtistNicFran
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